In almost every consultation there is a moment when the room goes quiet for a second. It comes when we ask who, apart from the client, actually knows that this holding exists.
Surprisingly often, the answer is: nobody.
With that, the most important question on this page has already been asked. It is not a tax question. A holding abroad is not lost to tax in an estate, but to the fact that nobody finds it.
First, the uncomfortable clarification
The idea persists that a vault outside the EU has an inheritance tax advantage. It does not, and anyone who moves metal with that expectation moves it for the wrong reason.
If the person who died was a long-term UK resident, inheritance tax applies to their assets abroad as well. Long-term resident, since 6 April 2025, means UK tax resident in at least ten of the previous twenty tax years. And the status does not end on the day you leave: depending on how long you lived in the UK, it continues for up to ten tax years after departure.
So the place of storage plays no part in this calculation. A bar in Singapore counts in the estate exactly like a bar in a London vault, and the inheritance tax of 40% above the threshold applies to both.
That is not good news, but it is the basis of any usable plan. Moving metal pays off for reasons of protection from access, the form of safekeeping and the tax on purchase. For inheritance tax, it does not.
What does change: the reporting
At home, an estate runs along familiar lines. The banks are told of the death, the executors ask each institution for the value of what it holds as at the date of death, and the figures go into the account to HMRC. Much of it arrives by post, often before the executors have had to search for anything.
For a holding abroad, none of this happens by itself. A vault operator in Singapore will not contact anyone in the UK of its own accord.
But what follows from this is exactly the opposite of what some people make of it. The duty does not disappear, it moves to the executors. They have to value and report the whole estate, including what lies abroad. And the simplified route that many estates can use is closed here: as soon as the assets outside the UK exceed £100,000 in gross value, the estate no longer counts as an excepted estate, and a full inheritance tax account is required.
In one sentence: if foreign assets of any size belong to the estate, the executors have to know about them and report them themselves, and above £100,000 the short route is not open to them. This reporting duty is one of five that hang on a holding abroad; all five are set out under Do I have to report precious metals held abroad?.
The real risk: heirs who know nothing
We have seen it more than once, and it never ends well. The holding lies correctly, insured, segregated and in a stable jurisdiction. Only nobody knows about it.
A vault operator with whom nobody gets in touch after the customer's death will not think of looking for the family. It will debit the fees for as long as that works, and at some point the contract will be dealt with under the rules of the law that governs it, rules that do not help the owner and the heirs if they do not even know the contract exists.
Discretion during your lifetime and findability after your death are no contradiction, they just need arranging. As a rule, that arrangement has three parts: a register that says which holdings exist and with whom, without itself granting access; a person or office that hands this register over after a death; and a note in the estate papers that points to both. The effort is small. Not making it is the most expensive mistake on this entire page.
Proving that you are the heir, and why it works differently outside the EU
Inside the European Union there is a dedicated instrument for this. The European Certificate of Succession is issued by the authority dealing with the succession and is recognised in the other member states without any special procedure. It applies in all EU member states except Denmark and Ireland.
For a holding in Switzerland, in Liechtenstein or in Singapore, it does not help, and nor does it help an estate administered from the UK. These countries are not EU member states, and the certificate is an instrument between member states. There, the rules of proof of the country concerned apply, along with the vault operator's requirements: as a rule a UK grant of representation (in Scotland, confirmation), with a certified translation and, depending on the country, an apostille or legalisation.
That is no obstacle. It is a delay. In our experience it takes weeks to months, and that time falls exactly in the phase when the estate needs money.
A bar cannot be split three ways
The second most common point of dispute has nothing to do with tax or foreign law, but with physics.
If someone leaves a holding to several heirs in equal shares, they hold it together until the estate is divided. As long as everyone agrees, that is no problem. As soon as one wants to sell and the others do not, it quickly becomes one, because a single large bar cannot be split three ways without destroying it and losing value in the process. Such cases often end with the sale of the whole, which none of those involved originally wanted.
Two things defuse this, and both belong to the purchase, not to estate planning:
- Think about denominations. A holding of several smaller units can be divided, a holding of a few large ones cannot. Large bars carry lower premiums, smaller ones are more flexible, and the answer depends on whether the holding will one day have to be divided.
- Specific gifts instead of shared ownership. If you want a particular person to receive a particular part, set that out in your will instead of trusting the heirs to agree. How to word it so that it holds is a matter for your solicitor, not for this page.
When heirs live abroad
In families spread across countries, a second legal system comes in, regardless of where the metal lies.
The UK side is clear: if the person who died was a long-term UK resident, inheritance tax reaches the whole estate, worldwide. The second question is whether the heir's country of residence taxes as well. Many countries charge an estate or inheritance tax under their own rules, and they do not ask whether the UK has already taxed.
Against double taxation, either a treaty between the two countries helps, or relief for foreign tax under UK law. Treaties specifically for inheritance tax, however, exist with only ten countries, among them Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, far fewer than for income tax. Whether one exists for your situation is a question to settle at the start and not after a death, and it belongs with a tax adviser with an international focus.
For the choice of location, a simple rule follows: the more widely spread the family, the more important it is that the place of storage is simple to administer. A holding that three heirs in three countries have to reach should not also lie in a legal system none of them knows.
The trap hardly anyone thinks of: liquidity
Inheritance tax is charged in money. Precious metal is not money, but a thing that first has to be turned into money.
In the UK, the tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death, and as a rule part of it has to be paid before the executors even receive the grant of representation. If a large part of the estate consists of metal in a vault outside the EU, this produces an awkward sequence: the tax falls due, access to the holding is not yet settled, and the money for the tax still has to come from somewhere. In that situation people sell, and under time pressure, which is roughly the opposite of why anyone holds precious metal at all.
Two things reliably defuse this. First, settling early how a sale at the place of storage would work and how long it takes. Second, keeping part of the estate in liquid form to carry the tax, so that the metal does not become the cash reserve of the heirs. What to watch for in a sale at the place of storage is set out in our article Selling precious metals abroad.
What needs arranging now
The list is short, and every point on it can be done in an afternoon.
- A holdings register that names the operator, the place of storage, the contract number and the approximate size, and a clear route by which the heirs receive it when the time comes.
- Check the authorisation with the operator. Many storage contracts allow you to name a second person. Whether a power of attorney survives your death depends on the law at the place of storage and on the contract, not on your expectation.
- Check the form of safekeeping. A claim against a custodian is harder to enforce in an estate than ownership of particular pieces, and a custodian's insolvency hits the heirs harder than the owner. Why that is so is set out under Bank safe deposit box or high-security vault.
- Keep the purchase receipts. They decide the gain on any sale you make during your lifetime. For your heirs, the value at the date of death becomes their starting value for capital gains tax, so a sound valuation at that point matters as much.
- Choose the location with this question in mind too. How easily an estate runs at a place of storage belongs in the choice of location, and from the start. The weighing-up is set out under Where to store precious metals.
- Keep the register up to date. A paper from eight years ago that names an operator no longer trading under that name is worse than none, because the heirs will chase it. Looking through it once a year is enough.
What stands out on this list: not a single point is expensive, and none needs an appointment with an authority. They are decisions you make while you are thinking about the holding anyway. That is exactly why they get left, and exactly why they are written down here.
What we do
We are not tax advisers and not solicitors, and we do not administer estates. What we do is the check that comes first: whether your holding lies in such a way that it reaches the right people after your death at all, and whether the structure around it fits what you have planned for your family.
That is usually a short conversation with a clear result, and it is one of the few where the benefit is obvious once it has taken place. Friedrich A. Hennegriff looks at your whole situation for this, not just the metal.
👉 Book an appointmentFrequently asked questions
Is UK inheritance tax due on precious metals held abroad?
Yes, if the person who died was a long-term UK resident. Inheritance tax then applies to their assets abroad as well, at 40% on everything above the threshold. Where the metal is stored changes nothing. Anyone who moves precious metals abroad does so for reasons other than inheritance tax.
Do the executors have to report a holding abroad to HMRC?
Yes. The executors value the whole estate and report it to HMRC. Once the assets outside the UK exceed £100,000 in gross value, the simplified route for excepted estates is closed and a full account is required. The tax is due by the end of the sixth month after the death.
Can my heirs reach a vault in Switzerland or Singapore?
Yes, but not with the European Certificate of Succession. It works between EU member states, and so neither in Switzerland nor in Singapore, nor for an estate administered from the UK. There, proof under the rules of the country concerned is needed, usually translated and legalised. That is feasible, and it takes time if it has not been prepared.
What is the biggest practical risk?
That the heirs know nothing about the holding. A vault operator abroad will not contact anyone in the UK of its own accord and will not inform anyone who does not come forward. A holding that nobody knows about is not a protected holding, but a lost one.